Savage weaves Wikipedia, Wikileaks, and the Bilderberg group into one bunk conspiracy theory

Michael Savage's conspiracy theories about Wikileaks' various connections are approaching insanity. In the span of his three-hour program Monday, Savage tackled the website's recent document dump from a number of angles ranging from declaring it a global leftist conspiracy to narcissistically complaining that he didn't find his own name embedded in the leaked cables.

At the top of the show, Savage claimed that Wikipedia and Wikileaks were somehow linked, presumably because they share the prefix "wiki."

SAVAGE: Of course there's only one story, and that is the story of the subversion, the terrorism of the Wikileaks and Wikpedia folks. Now, I say that because I believe there is a link between the two, although I cannot prove it, nor am I making such an allegation. I believe that both organizations should be investigated to the full extent of the law.

[emphasis added]

But in making his non-allegation, Savage, like Beck before him, ignored the fact that the MediaWiki software both WikiLeaks and Wikipedia use is free and available to anyone who wants it. Linking the two because of the free software on which they run is like conspiratorially linking two bloggers because they both have wordpress.com sites.

Savage also saw a conspiracy in the information he believes was omitted from the leaked cables. An incredulous Savage could not believe that in all these leaked documents, his name was not mentioned once:

SAVAGE: I have not seen one e-mail that has been released by this gutter snipe from Wikileaks that embarrasses any part of the left-wing agenda. Every one of these encrypted e-mails that has been released by this rat pack is intended to advance the radical leftist agenda worldwide, the socialist agenda that I spell out in "Trickle up Poverty." Not one of them embarrasses a liberal, a socialist or a leftist, that I know of.

[...]

SAVAGE: How is it possible that the only member of the American media to have been banned from entering England, Michael Savage, banned by the United Kingdom government in 2008--It was originally done, by the way, during the Bush administration, during the reign of Bush, who I criticized continuously. I am convinced it was Bush and Condoleeza Rice in consort with those in the United Kingdom. How is it possible that not one e-mail released by these rats in Wikileaks covers that particular incident. After all, it's not an insignificant incident. It's a very significant incident when you ban an American member of the--you wanna call me a commentator, whatever you wanna say. I'm not allowed into England.

[emphasis added]

Toward the end of the first hour, Savage traded conspiracy theories with a caller ranging from the Bilderberg group to the bank bailout in Ireland.

SAVAGE: What about my allegations that the Bilderberg group is involved with [Wikileaks]?

CALLER: Yes, the Bilderberg group with its steering committee of 39 members including the queen of the Netherlands, Henry Kissinger and others, it's basically a gaggle of financiers and intelligence specialists from around the world.

[...]

SAVAGE: Do you know that I actually list in Trickle Up Poverty on pages 88-89 the members of the Bilderberg group who attended the U.S. meeting in 2010? I have the names there. Are you aware of that?

CALLER: Actually, I don't have your book.

SAVAGE: You're going to get one, but I'm going to read you some of them. "Those attending the Bilderberg meeting in 2010 included Roger Altman, chairman Evercore Partners, Sonia Arrison, author and policy analyst, Timothy Collins, Martin Feldstein, George Baker, Niall Ferguson -- I know some of these names ring a bell -- Laurence A. Tisch, William Gates -- William Gates, of course, would ring a bell wouldn't he? Richard Holbrooke -- I think that name rings a bell -- Henry Kissinger, that rings a bell doesn't it? Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts? There are about 50 names in there, and most of them are also co-members of the council on foreign relations. So, would you say that that is a good pocket list of those that are behind the New World Order and also behind the bailout of these banks in Ireland, and, as you allege, somewhat involved in the Wikileaks scandal?

CALLER: Yes, because you could say all the people you mentioned, generally speaking, they are in the Anglo-American ruling class.

[emphasis added]

The first thing we can unpack from this conspiracy laden diatribe is that George Baker and Laurence A. Tisch are both dead. They were not at the U.S. Bilderberg meeting in 2010, not only because they were dead--Baker since 1931--but also because the meeting to which Savage refers took place in Sitges, Spain. What Savage meant to say is that Niall Ferguson, the "Laurence A. Tisch Professor of of History" at Harvard, and Martin Feldstein, the "George F. Baker Professor of Economics" at Harvard, attended the meeting. For his part, Savage does get this distinction correct in his book, Trickle Up Poverty, as well as the fact that the names he read off were "from" the U.S., not, as he said on the show, in attendance at "the US meeting in 2010." However, Savage did not explain why he believes the Bilderberg group has anything to do with WikiLeaks.

At the very top of the next hour, Savage explained that the WikiLeaks dump is actually a "vast conspiracy of the left:"

SAVAGE: Virtually every one of these disclosures is anti-war, anti-conservative, anti-nationalism. I have not seen one encrypted cable, or one encrypted e-mail that is, that embarrasses one leftist or one portion or one iota, I should say, of the leftist agenda...And if you can't prove that I'm wrong, then I'm right. And if I'm right it means that this is a vast conspiracy of the left to take down anyone who is nationalistic or wishes to protect their nationhood from worldwide terrorism. [emphasis added]

Savage's conspiracy theories are presumptuous, paranoid and patently absurd. His capacity for paranoia is rivaled only by his vanity and delusions of grandeur.

On December 7, President-elect Donald Trump named Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Media should take note of Pruitt’s climate science denial, his deep ties to the energy industries he will be charged with regulating, and his long record of opposition to EPA efforts to reduce air and water pollution and combat climate change.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked -- or considered -- nearly a dozen people who have worked in right-wing media, including talk radio, right-wing news sites, Fox News, and conservative newspapers, to fill his administration. And Trump himself made weekly guest appearances on Fox for a number of years while his vice president used to host a conservative talk radio show.